Graham Harrell is home again.
And though it would certainly be a sign of bad things for the Packers if he actually sees the field on Sunday in Super Bowl XLV, the No. 3 quarterback is downright giddy to be in his home city (or Metroplex?) playing in the biggest American sporting event on perhaps the biggest stage to ever host the big game.
After a record-setting career at Ennis, where he played for his father, Sam, Harrell went off to Texas Tech to study under offensive mastermind Mike Leach, and he thrived.
Harrell went on to become the second all-time passer in NCAA football history with 15,793 yards and had his shining moment as a senior when he led Texas Tech to an upset of Texas and Colt McCoy, which propelled the Red Raiders to a No. 2 national ranking.
He wasn't drafted, signed as a free agent with the Browns, was cut in training camp and ended up going to Oklahoma State to be a graduate assistant with a trip up to Canada mixed in where he never saw the field in the CFL.
Back in the spring, Harrell tried out for the Packers and was signed to the practice squad. In December, he was signed to the active roster when Aaron Rodgers was injured, and now? He's a part of the team.
He's even a star of the Packers weekly TV show in Milwaukee, which did a version of "Cribs" with Harrell, who is livin' large in the Great White North.
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To make things even sweeter with Harrell, he'll get to bring his father and the rest of his family to the game. Sam Harrell is battling MS, an incurable disease that attacks the nervous system, and had to retire from coaching last year at Ennis, where he won three Class 4A state titles.
And along with having the entire community of Ennis and a huge legion of Texas Tech fans, where he is highly revered, pulling for him this weekend, he'll have no bigger fan than his dad.
"You would like to say you've been to one," Sam Harrell told KDAF-TV. "Getting to go to Yankee Stadium, I went there, then to Lambeau Field, and I did that, and I wanted to go to a Super Bowl, and sure enough, I am."
